


The Spear of Llothis

by FyreAlchemage



Series: Tales From Merol [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 11:28:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29331597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FyreAlchemage/pseuds/FyreAlchemage
Summary: Part of the Tales From Merol collection. Miya attempts to get her hands onto an artifact, whose owner does not approve.
Series: Tales From Merol [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2154444





	The Spear of Llothis

Walking across the root bridge always made Miya tremble. What if it broke beneath her feet, what if she slipped off, what if…? But, luckily for her, none of those things happened, and she stepped off the bridge and headed up the stairs to the curious mushroom tower that was Tel Hammar.

She’d heard that Medeliu Hammar was in possession of an… interesting little spear, a treasure of the ancient dark elves: the Spear of Llothis. Miya hoped that he might consider letting her donate it to the imperial museum; certainly they’d love to have some dark elf pieces in their collection. This was the reason for her visit, though the timing was quite unfortunate.

When she entered the tower, all the lanterns were dark. No light; this clearly meant that no one was home.

Miya knew where Medeliu kept his treasures though, and headed down into his cellars. She passed the stone door without incident and found herself in his private collection of artifacts. So many artifacts. And Medeliu had written notes about all of them, placing them next to each one. He was a meticulous elf, that was for sure.

As she looked around, she noticed a certain treasure that caught her eye. A pink sphere, softly glowing in the darkness. The notes on this were not much, and seemed incomplete—maybe he had only recently found this one. Miya read them anyway.

The Sphere of Llothis Suryl. No doubt the more obscure of Llothis’s secret treasures, this sphere dates back to the days of the First Council of the ancient dark elves and appears to control the emotions of those it touches. My testing was limited and I could not find many willing subjects, thus I have no idea how far these effects can go, but it appears clear that any emotion can be controlled.

Miya took the Sphere of Llothis Suryl and felt it immediately work its magic. She grew happier for no reason; this was a treasure indeed.

Another thing caught her eye. Gleaming in the dark, protected in a nice case, was a sword. The notes for this one named it The Elk’s Retaliation, a sword forged in an act of disdain for those who hated its maker. It held the power of confusion: any who touched the blade were immediately confused, lost in an endless stream of why-and-what-and-when. She took this too.  
There was a third thing that she was drawn to. Tucked away in the corner, resting on top of a desk, surrounded by apparatus and lenses and other scholarly tools of analysis, was a single flower. The notes here were incomplete, very much so, containing only a name: Death’s Rose. There was also a warning hastily scribbled in: Visitors (that includes you, Brhuce) do NOT touch this for ANY reason, it can kill on contact with skin.

Miya was hesitant to touch this one. She approached it cautiously, extended a hand, then wrapped her hand in a cloth and touched it then. Safe. She took it and put it in her hair.

She saw the Spear of Llothis then, and took it. That was four artifacts. Medeliu had hundreds; four or five wouldn’t be missed, surely.

As she went to leave, Medeliu Hammar appeared at the desk in a swirl of magic, lit the lamp with a flick of his hand, and then turned around, his expression reading: Excuse me, but what the hell?

“You touched it, didn’t you,” Medeliu said. “Maybe I didn’t make my warning big enough; I thought it was quite clear.” He took a brief glance around. “And put everything back. It isn’t yours to take. I really should remember to lock the door.”

Miya took each of the artifacts and, quite reluctantly, placed them back, all except the Spear of Llothis. Medeliu flicked his hands, and the Spear flew from her grasp and back to its place.  
“Now go,” said Medeliu, sitting down at the desk, putting a lens to his eye, and carefully testing Death’s Rose to see how it reacted to magic.

“But I wanted to—”

“No,” said Medeliu. “You aren’t going to take anything from my collection. Go.”

Defeated, she walked outside.

Later that night, Miya returned to Tel Hammar, invisibility potion in hand. She was going to get that Spear, damn it, and there wasn’t anything Medeliu could say to her that would convince her not to!

After sneaking around the cellar, she found that the door to his treasure room, the stone door, wouldn’t budge. He had locked it. Miya knew that the key had to be in here somewhere. The question was: where would a millennia old wizard lord keep his keys?

She searched the lower floors of the tower, finding nothing that seemed like a key, when she realized: of course, he would be protecting the key. He no doubt expected Miya to try to come back again. But Miya knew how to take things without others noticing. It was how she’d gotten out of many, many trapped treasure rooms.

Carefully, ever so quietly, she downed another invisibility potion and crept up to the top. Yes, there it was, the key! Protected in a ten-layer-thick magical barrier spell. Think fast, Miya! She got out a magic dispelling splash potion. The key was to throw it without making too much noise. She did this, and it shattered just quiet enough that it didn’t seem to disturb Medeliu, who was asleep right next to the key. She would make a really good thief, if she ever needed to consider such a life.

She grabbed the key, her hand closing around that magical rock. Then, her hand began to burn. Oh, no, he’d trapped it! A wailing began to emit from the key as Miya rushed away, as fast as she could manage, down to the treasure room. She ran the fastest she’d ever ran, taking that Spear out of its case and running outside and far, far across the bridge. She almost thought she’d succeeded, when, surprise surprise, Medeliu appeared in a swirl of magic particles, took the Spear, shook his head, and vanished. Oh, really?

Now she remembered why she needed Grayson. He always knew to tell her when to stop.


End file.
